GEOGRAPHICAL SYNTHESIS OF BIU PLATEAU, …2)/ARInt.2017(8.2-02).pdf · GEOGRAPHICAL SYNTHESIS OF...

Academic Research International Vol. 8(2) June 2017

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright © 2017 SAVAP International ISSN: 2223-9944, e ISSN: 2223-9553

www.savap.org.pk 18 www.journals.savap.org.pk

GEOGRAPHICAL SYNTHESIS OF BIU PLATEAU, NORTH

EASTERN NIGERIA

Ikusemoran Mayomi1, J.O.

Odihi

2, Manu H. Yelwa

3

Department of Geography, University of Maiduguri,

NIGERIA.

[email protected],

[email protected],

[email protected]

ABATRACT

Geospatial techniques were used to analyze the position and size, topography

and relief, drainage and hydrology, soils, landuse and landcover as well as

the settlements of Biu Plateau in this paper. The land area of Biu plateau was

extracted from Digital Elevation Dataset of Shuttle Radar Topographical

Mission (SRTM) DEM data which was acquired online. The DEM data was

processed to generate the elevation, slope and 3-Dimentional view of the

plateau which were all used to analyze the plateau. The soil type of the

plateau was extracted from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) soil

types, while the landuse and landcover was generated from a classified

Landsat Satellite image of 2015 obtained online from earthexplorer.usgs.gov.

ArcGIS 10.1 software was used to classify and calculate the land areas of the

plateau and to determine the heights and area coverage of some features of

interest. The study revealed that the plateau was found to occupy mainly Biu

and Hawul LGAs with little extensions into Kwaya Kusar in Borno State as

well as into Gulani and Gujba LGA in Yobe State. The total land area of the

plateau that has been hitherto quoted as more than 5,000 km2 was discovered

in this study to occupy only a land area of 2635.12 km2. The Craters and

Crater lakes on the plateau were identified, while the heights and area

coverage of each of them were also generated. The main soils type of the

plateau was found to be Phaeozem and Leptosols, the plateau was also found

to be mainly covered by grasses and shrubs. It was recommended that the

plateau can be harnessed for tourism because of the presence of attractive

natural features like plateau, craters and crater lakes, and since the plateau

consists of abundant grasses and shrubs, the Federal and Borno State

government can make the plateau a good site for animal grazing like the

Obudu cattle ranch in southern Nigeria.

Keywords: Biu Plateau, Craters, Crater Lakes, Geospatial

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria is blessed with numerous natural resources, among which are the beautiful hills,

plateaus, plains, rivers and vegetation. The Mandara highlands in the north east, the Obudu

hills in Cross River State, the Jos Plateau from which Plateau State derived its name, the

Rivers Niger and Benue, the Niger-Benue trough and other natural endowed features all add

to the beauty, and as well serve as tourist sites in Nigeria. The Biu Plateau is the second most

popular plateau after Jos Plateau in Nigeria. It serves as watershed to so many rivers, a site of

animal grazing and transhumance and tourist centers among others. Until recently most of the

natural endowments in the country are rarely studied or when they do, they are often

generalized which creates loss of information and dearth of data on some of the features.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Moreover, most of the studies that have been carried out on these natural features on the

plateau were achieved through manual techniques [1, 2, 3]. Though, in the work of [3], some

digital maps were used in their analysis of the morphology of volcanic craters but all other

measurements were manually determined. The use of manual techniques have been proved

to consume so much time, energy and resources and at the end may not be reliable because of

its prone to human errors, excessive generalization and difficulty in updating and storage of

such information [4,5].

The use of remotely sensed data and Geographical Information System have however been

adopted on few studies on Biu plateaus. For instance, [6] used Geospatial techniques in the

analysis of the terrain of the plateau for road transport development. This means that a lot is

yet to be done on the plateau in order to have extensive knowledge and documentation on the

plateau which may serve as data bank for current researchers or for the future generations.

Due to the current security challenges especially in north-eastern Nigeria, effective studies

are needed on the natural endowments in the region for proper terrain assessments which can

only be effectively achieved through geospatial techniques. For instance, in the previous

studies, different values were recorded for the size, shape, height and location of Biu Plateau.

In terms of size, [7] reported that the plateau is a rugged terrain overlain by volcanic rocks,

whose extent covers over 500 sq. km. In the study of [8] the plateau was said to have covered

about 2000sq miles, while, [9] reported that the elevation of the plateau is less than 900m, [3]

put the elevation to fall between 600 and 800 m above sea level.

Since all the aforementioned values on the size and heights of Biu plateau are not the same, it

means they are not accurate probably because most of them were based on mere estimation or

at best by the use of manual methods of measurements. It is therefore necessary to apply

modern techniques of spatial analysis which is less in human error and more accurate [4,5]

and can be considered to be more reliable to assess the plateau in order to have accurate and

reliable documentation of the plateau. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are to:

analyze the topography of Biu Plateau using remotely sensed data and GIS techniques,

generate some digital maps of the area which portray its true shape, size and heights for

reliable data generation and documentation for present and future use.

THE STUDY AREA

According to [7] Biu Plateau is a structural and topographic divide between the Upper Benue

Basin to the south and the Chad Basin to the north. A number of well-preserved volcanic

hills, made up of basaltic agglomerates, ash, lavas and tuff create miniature escarpments and

also form permanent relief features in the northern parts of the plateau. In the work of [6],

there is evidence of early volcanic activity in the Biu plateau during the Cretaceous, however,

the plateau was built around the end of the Miocene, and the bulk of the rocks are Pliocene

basalts that have erupted from small vents or fissures, and then spread in a thin layer over

wide areas. Activity resumed in the Quaternary with thin flows of lava issuing from small

cinder cones and filling the valleys. Most of the basalts date between 7 and 2 million years

ago, but some are less than a million years old. The plateau includes many small pyroclastic

cones caused by explosions when water penetrated downward and came into contact with

fresh lava. There are a number of well-preserved volcanic cones rising above the Plateau

along a NNW-SSE axis in the Miringa volcanic zone.

According to [10], Biu plateau which is largely owing to its varied geological composition

provides a great variety of topographical forms featuring rugged hills of granite and

sandstone, volcanic plugs and plateau developed on sedimentary and volcanic rocks.

Maiduguri Metrological Services (1992) in [6] described Biu Plateau as an area that is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miocene

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliocene

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basalt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyroclastic


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



characterized by three seasons the cold dry season (harmattan) from October to March, hot

dry season from April to June and rainy season from July to September. Temperatures are

high all the year round with hot season temperature ranging from 39 and 47 °C. The mean

annual rainfall on the plateau is about 800mm and rain season lasts for about 150 days. The

plateau is covered with the Sudan savannah type of vegetation which consists mainly of scrub

vegetation interspersed with tall trees and woodland. The vegetation has been modified in

most parts of the area as a result of over cultivation and overgrazing.

Biu plateau also has its problems, [9] reported that the problem in the Biu plateau is lack of

extensive good farmland owing to great dissection of the high relief of the area. Moreover,

water supplies are also poor on the Biu plateau which is heavily dissected by numerous

streams, most of which contain no water during the dry season. He concluded that the water

supply problem is a major handicap not only to cropping but also to attempts at

sedentarization of the cattle Fulani.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

SRTM DEM of Biu plateau was acquired online from Landsat Earth Data Interface. The

DEM was classified into three based on altitude. Other relief features like contours, 3D view

and flow accumulation was generated from the DEM map. The area land cover and heights

of features of interest were derived by extracting such areas from the entire DEM map and

using the area calculation modules of ArcGIS to calculate the areas. The classified DEM also

shows the minimum and maximum elevation which gives the heights and depth of such areas.

The coordinates of sixty eight (68) numbers of settlements were obtained, processed and

added to the DEM image. The results show the actual position of such settlements on the

plateau.

The positions of the rivers and streams on the plateau were also obtained from the DEM map

by generating the flow accumulation data from the DEM. In fact, no river or stream was

digitized in this paper as they were all processed from the DEM, which means positional

accuracy and shape of all the rivers and streams were maintained. The Strauller’s method of

stream ordering was adopted which was also generated from the DEM map by the use of the

stream ordering module of the ArcGIS.

The acquired Landsat image was classified into seven identifiable landuse and landcover

features of interest using a supervised type of classification. The area coverage of each

landuse and landcover types from the classified image was obtained by the use of the area

calculation module of the ArcGIS software. The soil map of the area was extracted from an

existing soil map of Nigeria prepared by [11]. The identified soil types on the plateau were

digitized while the area of each soil type was also calculated in ArcGIS environment. The

coordinates of Sixty eight villages were obtained and added to the digital map so as to assess

the villages that fall in each of the soil type.

RESULTS

The results of the various generated features in terms of the position and size, relief, drainage

and vegetation among others are discussed in this section.

Position and Size of Biu Plateau

Biu plateau is located in Biu, Hawul and Kwaya Kusar LGAs in the southern part of Borno

state with extension into Gulani and Gujba LGA in southern Yobe State. The plateau lies

between latitudes 10˚.18N and 11˚.06'N and longitudes 11˚.49' and 12˚.25'E as shown in

Fig.1.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Figure 1. The Study Area

In terms of size, Biu plateau covers a land area of 2635.12km2 from the total land area of

74832.71km2

of Borno State, which means that the plateau covers 3.52% of the land area of

Borno State. The small isolated hills at the foot of the plateau are however excluded from the

plateau. The area coverage of the plateau in each of the five LGAs is presented in Table 1.

Table. 1. Area landmass of Biu Plateau in each of the LGAs

LGA Plateau Area (km2) Percentage

Borno State

Biu 1979.54 75.12

Hawul 533.76 20.26

Kwaya Kusar 82.36 3.13

Yobe State

Gujba 25.85 0.98

Gulani 13.61 0.52

Total 2635.12 100


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



The actual size of Biu plateau (2635.12km2) as revealed from Table 1, is far less than what

have been quoted in some previous studies. For instance, [12] reported the size of the plateau

to have covered over 5000 km2.

Relief of Biu Plateau

The relief of Biu plateau comprises of the remnant of the dissected plateau itself and the

numerous craters on the plateau. The elevation of the plateau ranges from 498 to 923m above

the sea level. This finding is similar to the report of [8] that the plateau surface consists of

undulating plains lying between 500-800m above sea level; Biu plateau has been heavily

dissected as revealed from Figs 2, 3 and 4. The current shape of the plateau shows a step-like

structure from the foot up to the top of the plateau as shown in Fig 2a. All the craters are

found on the middle step as revealed in Figs 2a and 4.

Figure 2a. Elevation of Biu Plateau Figure 2b. Slope of Biu Plateau

According to [12], the elevation of the plateau descends gradually to the north and to the

west, where the highlands of the plateau pass into the plains underlain by basaltic rock west

of Buratai and north-west of Miringa as revealed in Fig.3. The Miringa volcanic zone has a

number of well preserved volcanic cones, which stand above the plateau, along a north-

northwest to south-southeast axis. These cones are characterized by well defined craters with

breached rims and steep conical sides.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Figure 3. The Relief of Biu Plateau

The relief of Biu Plateau cannot be effectively analyzed without discussing the Craters. [13]

described volcanic crater as a circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



is typically a basin, circular in form within which occurs a vent (or vents) from which magma

erupts as gases, lava, and ejecta. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great

depth. A crater can be of large dimensions, and sometimes of great depth. [10] also reported

that a number of well preserved volcanic hills, made up of basaltic agglomerates, ash, lavas

and tuff create miniature escarpments also form permanent relief features in the northern

parts of the plateau. [4] took the coordinates of some craters on the plateau to assess the

morphology of the craters. These coordinates were used in this paper to identify the craters as

well as to determine the area coverage and the heights of each of the craters as presented in

Table 2. The craters were arranged in descending order based on their heights.

Table. 2. The coordinates, area coverage and heights of some important Craters on Biu Plateau

S/N Craters Latitudes Longitudes Area Coverage

(km2)

Maximum

Heights (m)

1 Kumba 10˚47′33.023ʺN 12˚5′ 25.441ʺE 10.21 923

2 Padam 10˚50′39.037ʺN 12˚6′ 9.862ʺE 3.72 874

3 Tilla 10˚39′54.929ʺN 12˚7′ 55.363ʺE 1.78 868

4 Kwari Tilla 10˚38′48.297ʺN 12˚8′ 3.692ʺE 3.11 850

5 Jali Tagurmi 10˚42′38.732ʺN 12˚7′ 35.528ʺE 0.62 836

6 Kufakana 10˚44′7.575ʺN 12˚7′ 19.27ʺE 3.34 824

7 Hujiga 10˚49′24.076ʺN 12˚2′ 38.861ʺE 2.84 814

8 Pidarta 10˚55′19.446ʺN 12˚0′25.597ʺE 1.20 805

9 Sugwi 10˚54′1.709ʺN 12˚1′12.795ʺE 0.22 771

10 Sugur 10˚44′18.68ʺN 12˚4′ 49.349ʺE 1.48 768

11 Higzi 10˚40′17.139ʺN 12˚14′ 7.391ʺE 1.28 767

12 Zamta 10˚40′49.7ʺN 12˚0′ 17.329ʺE 0.23 765

13 Kidi 10˚46′29.167ʺN 12˚6′ 1.533ʺE 3.18 759

Table 2 shows that in terms of area coverage, Kumba (10.21 km2), Padam (3.74 km

2) and

Kufakana (3.34 km2) were the three largest craters on the plateau, while Kumba (923m),

Padam (874m) and Tilla (868m) were the three highest craters on the plateau. Figure 5

shows the locations of the thirteen craters, while the 3-Dimentinoal view in Figure 4 shows

the shape and height of each of the craters.

Figure 4. 3D-View of Biu Plateau

PidartaSugwi

Hujiga

Padam Kumba

Kidi Sug

ur

Kuf

akan

a

Jali T

agru

mi

Tilla


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Legend

Biu_Craters LGABoundary StateBoundary

Figure 5. Craters on Biu Plateau

Drainage and Hydrology of Biu Plateau

Biu plateau is drained by three principal sources: rivers, streams and Crater Lakes. The main

rivers as shown in Fig. 6 include Rivers Divana, Hauwale, Korode, Kajola among others. The

longitudinal north-south alignment of the central part of the plateau forms the watershed for

most of the rivers from the third-half northwards. All the rivers take their sources from this

watershed area and flow either eastwards or westwards (Fig.6). At the extreme north, the

rivers takes their sources from the central plateau and flow northwards, while the rivers and

streams in the extreme south flow southwards from the central plateau. The foot of the

plateau was also found to contain only few rivers/streams as shown in Fig. 6


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Fig. 6. Drainage of Biu plateau

According to [4], only four craters (Hujiga, Kukafana, Tila and Sugur) out of the thirteen

identified craters in Biu plateau have crater lakes. The land area and the shape of each of the

four crater lakes were assessed in this study as presented in Table 3 and Fig.7 respectively.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Table 3. Area of the Crater Lakes on Biu plateau

S/N Crater Lakes Area (Hectares)

1 Hujiga 58.40

2 Kukafana 55.65

3 Tila 14.42

4 Sugur 22.92

Fig. 7. Shapes of the crater lakes on Biu plateau

Table 3 shows that Kukafana crater lake covered the largest area landmass with 55.65

hectares while Tila crater lakes is the smallest in terms of land area coverage among the four

crater lakes with only 14.42 hectares. Some of the crater lakes are being used for resort and

recreation activities. For instance, [15] reported that Government is currently developing the

Lake Tilla as a holiday resort and that the chalets and restaurants have already been provided

for the comfort of guests.

In analyzing the hydrology of the plateau, only five drainage characteristics were examined:

drainage pattern, drainage density, stream order, number of streams and stream lengths as

shown in Table 4.

Hujiga Crater Lake

Kukafuna Crater Lake

Tilla Crater Lake

Sugur Crater Lake


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Table 4. Stream Characteristics of Biu Plateau

Drainage Pattern

The drainage pattern of the plateau is dendretic as the shape look like a tree with several

branches (Fig. 6). According to [14] it is the most common drainage pattern, and tends to

occur on flat land with uniform, non-porous bedrock. Straller’s pattern of stream order was

also adopted to assess the stream order of the plateau. The results revealed that the highest

stream order of Biu plateau is 6th

Order. [14] concluded that the dendretic drainage pattern

reflects the uniform nature of the soil and geology while homogenous rock structure accounts

for the evolution of dendritic drainage pattern.

Drainage Density

According to [16], drainage density looks at the relationship between the total length of all

the rivers and streams in a drainage basin (km) and the total area of a drainage basin (km2). If

an area has a high density, it means that precipitation gets into streams quicker, but if an area

has a low drainage density, it means that more precipitation has to travel by surface run-off,

through flow and base flow. They concluded that drainage densities are usually higher on

steep land because there is less infiltration and often less vegetation (depending on aspect),

higher on impermeable surfaces because of low infiltration, and vegetation increases

interception and reduces drainage density. The nature of Biu plateau confirmed the

aforementioned factors because the drainage density of the plateau can be said to be low

(2.61) because the slope (Fig 2b) is not steep in most part of the plateau, while 82.7% of the

plateau are covered with vegetation; that is either with forest (11.62%), woodland (28.72%)

and grassland/shrubs (42.66%) as shown in Table 6.

Soil of Biu Plateau

The five major soil types that were identified based on Food and Agriculture Organization

classifications on the plateau are: arenosols, gleysols, leptosols, luvisols and phaeozems. The

area coverage, percentages and spatial location of the soil types are presented in Fig 8.

Stream

Order

Number of Streams

(Nu) Stream Length (Lu)

1 9814 2402.34

2 3783 2384.32

3 837 1185.16

4 193 595.21

5 35 235.11

6 9 77.36

Total 14671 6879.5


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Fig. 8. Spatial distribution of soil types on Biu Plateau

The area coverage and the percentages as well as the villages that are found in each of the soil

types regions are presented in Table 5.

Legend

Villages

LGABoundary

StateBoundary

Luvisols

Arenosols

Gleysols

Leptosols

Phaeozems


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Table 5. Soil types, area coverage and villages in each soil type area on Biu Plateau

Soil Types Area Coverage (km2) Percentage

Villages/Description of the

location of the Soil Type Areas

Arenosols 22.68 0.86 Kwagu and Sapara in Hawul

LGA

Gleysols 86.39 3.28 Shidigu and Mangari in Biu LGA

Leptosols 905.81 34.37

Shaffa, Teshan Alade,

Yimirshika, Hyera, Ghuma,

Pisda, Bilatum, Kwaya Bura, etc

in Hawul LGA and Vio, Gurgur

in Biu LGA.

Luvisols 51.19 1.94 North-West of Chara Village

Phaeozems 1556.08 59.05

Biu, Buratai, Miringa, Garubula

etc in Biu LGA; and Nzuku,

Gura, Laraski etc in Hawul LGA

Total 2635.12 100

The description of each of the soil types by [17] was adopted in this paper. [17] reported that

Phaeozem are characterized by a humus-rich surface layer covered in the natural state with

abundant grass or deciduous forest vegetation. They are highly arable soils and are used for

growing wheat, soybeans, and pasture for cattle, as well as for wood and fuel production

(which are all produced on the plateau). They also reported that phaeozems have a high

content of available calcium ions bound to soil particles, resulting in a very permeable, well-

aggregated structure. This high permeability of the soil is a confirmation of the low drainage

density in the plateau (section 4.3 ii).

Arenosols exhibits only a partially formed surface horizon (uppermost layer) that is low in

humus, and they are bereft of subsurface clay accumulation. Given their excessive

permeability and low nutrient content, agricultural use of these soils requires careful

management [17].

Gleysols are formed under waterlogged conditions produced by rising groundwater. In the

tropics and subtropics they are cultivated for rice or, after drainage, for field crops and trees

[17]

Leptosols are soils with a very shallow profile depth (indicating little influence of soil-

forming processes), and they often contain large amounts of gravel. They typically remain

under natural vegetation, being especially susceptible to erosion, desiccation, or water

logging, depending on climate and topography [17]. Leptosols are approximately equally

distributed among high mountain areas, deserts, and boreal or polar regions, where soil

formation is limited by severe climatic conditions. The mixed mineralogy, high nutrient

content, and good drainage of these soils make them suitable for a wide range of agriculture,

from grains to orchards to vineyards [17]. Luvisols form on flat or gently sloping landscapes

under climatic regimes that range from cool temperate to warm Mediterranean [17].

Settlements on Biu Plateau

The settlements distribution in Figs 3 and 7 shows that the settlements on Biu plateau is a

scattered type of settlements. The spatial distribution of the settlements on the plateau also

revealed that settlements are more clustered in the southern part of the plateau than the

northern counterpart. Most of the settlements are rural types except Biu town which is the

second largest settlements in the state and Azare the Hawul LGA headquarters.

https://www.britannica.com/science/humus-soil-component

https://www.britannica.com/science/deciduous-forest

https://www.britannica.com/science/horizon-soil

https://www.britannica.com/science/humus-soil-component

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bereft

https://www.britannica.com/science/clay-geology

https://www.britannica.com/science/groundwater

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cultivated

https://www.britannica.com/plant/rice

https://www.britannica.com/topic/drainage

https://www.britannica.com/science/gravel

https://www.britannica.com/science/erosion-geology

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/topography


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Land Use and Land Cover

The classified landsat image of the plateau revealed farmland and settlements as the main

landuse types, while bare surface, woodland, forest, open water and grasslands/shrubs were

the identified landcover types. It was also revealed that some parts of the grassland/shrub

areas are used for animal grazing [3] and [8]. The seven classified landuse and landcover

types are presented in Fig 9 and analyzed in Table 6.

Fig. 9. Landuse and Landcover of Biu Plateau

The land area and the percentages of each of the classified landuse and landcover on the

plateau is shown on Table 6.

Legend

Villages

LGABoundary

StateBoundary

Farming

Bare Surface

Grassland

Forest

Settlements

Open Water

Woodland


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



Table 6. Areas and Percentages of Landuse and Landcover types in Biu Plateua

Table 6 revealed that grassland/shrub covered the largest portion of the plateau (42.36%). It

was also revealed that despite being a plateau, 40.34% of the plateau was covered with forest

(11.62%) and woodland (28.72%). This findings show that major parts of the plateau are

covered with vegetation as reported by [7] that the plateau is covered by Sudan savanna type

of vegetation which consists mainly of scrub vegetation interspersed with tall trees and

woodland; the vegetation type has been greatly modified in most parts by over-cultivation

and overgrazing.

Fig 6 also revealed that bare surface areas were found mainly in southern Biu LGA especially

in areas where rocks are exposed and where farming activities are extensively carried out,

hence some places around Bula, Vio, Kagua, Biu among others were bare surface (Fig.6).

Moreover, the widest areas where bare surface were found (between Yaulari in the north and

Vio in the south) have long been a cattle grazing reserve [18]. The grazing activities in this

area have turned some parts of the area into bare surface. Some parts of Shaffa, Yimirshika,

Azare and other areas in Hawul LGA were also places where farming activities were carried

out. Forest and woodland areas are found especially at the central towards the western parts

of Biu LGA. A large area bounded by Miringa in the south, Alagarmo and Shidigu in the

north-east and Buratai in the west commonly refered to as Alagarmo forest. Alagarmo forest

has been reported by [19] to be the spiritual power base of the insurgents in north-eastern

Nigeria, the base that was dislodged on 31st March, 2016. The extended portions of the

plateau into Yobe State (Gulani and Gujba LGAs) are mainly forest or woodland areas.

Grassland/shubs areas are found almost everywhere on the plateau except the Alagarmo

forest region. The grassland areas are usually home to animal grazing as reported by [3] that

Miringa in Biu LGA is known as a veritable livestock rearing area with the highest

concentration of livestock population, especially cattle. The popular Demsikari Forest

Reserve which is located between Biu and Gurgur [18] is also conspicuously shown as a

forest and woodland areas on the classified image

The settlements types are mostly rural which are difficult to be discerned with naked eyes on

the image (except when zoomed in), while open water has the least land area. Following the

fact that the image was captured in November when most of the rivers must have dried off as

reported by [8] that water supplies are poor on Biu plateau which has been heavily dissected

by numerous streams, most of which contain no water during the dry season.

Landuse and Landcover Types Area (km2) Percentages

Bare Surface 204.22 7.75

Farming 238.03 9.03

Forest 306.33 11.62

Grassland/Shrub 1116.28 42.36

Open Water 2.96 0.11

Settlements 10.49 0.40

Woodland 756.81 28.72

Total 2635.12 100


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



CONCLUSION

The position and size, topography and relief, drainage and hydrology, soils, settlements and

landuse and landcover of Biu Plateau has been analyzed in this paper using geospatial

techniques. The adopted method was found to be more accurate and reliable especially in the

assessments of the shapes, sizes, heights and depths of some features on the plateau than the

previous studies that were carried out using manual methods. The plateau was found to

mainly occupy Biu and Hawul LGAs in Borno state, but this study revealed that little parts of

the plateau extended to Kwaya Kusar in Borno State as well as into Gulani and Gujba LGA

in Yobe State. The total land area of the plateau that has been hitherto quoted as more than

5,000 km2 was discovered in this study to occupy only a land area of 2635.12 km

2. The actual

locations of some important features especially craters and crater lakes on Biu plateau were

also generated in this study. The generated depth, heights and area coverage of the craters and

crater lakes can be used for the classifications of these features based on the obtained values

of their area, depth and heights. The main soil type of the plateau is Phaeozem which are

highly arable soils and are used for growing wheat, soyabeans, and pasture for cattle, as well

as for wood and fuel production; all of which are carried out on the plateau. From the many

landuse and landcover types, the plateau was covered mainly by grasslands and shrubs.

Geospatial techniques can also be used for the assessments and analysis of other important

natural endowed features such as vegetation, plains, troughs, deserts and other plateaus and

highlands in the country in future studies.

RECOMMENDATIONS

This study has revealed some important facts about the Biu Plateau environment and the

techniques used in the study. On the basis of these findings the following recommendations

are made.

1. Geospatial techniques should be adopted in the assessment and documentation of

important natural endowments in Nigeria because of its high accuracy, reliability and

easy documentations

2. The study area can be harnessed for tourism because of the presence of attractive

natural features like plateau, craters and crater lakes.

3. Since the plateau was also found to contain much grasslands and shrubs, the federal

and Borno State government can make the plateau a good site for animal grazing like

the Obudu cattle ranch in southern Nigeria.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________



REFERENCE

[1] Turner, D.C. (1978). Volcanoes of the Biu basalt plateau, north-east Nigeria. Journal

of Mining and Geology, 15.

[2] Saidu, Y. (2004). Geochemical characteristics and evolution of the Biu Plateau

basalt. Nigeria: Jos University.

[3] Abdullahi, J., Odihi, J.O., & Wannah, B.B. (2015). Analysis of morphology of Biu

plateau, Borno State, Nigeria. Journal of geography, environment and earth sciences,

3(1), 1-10.

[4] Burrough, P. A. (1986), Principles of geographical information system for land

resources assessment. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[5] Heywood, I., Cornelius, S., & Carner, S. ((1998). An introduction to geographic

information systems. Essex, England: Addision Wesley Longman Limited.

[6] Ikusemoran, M., Abdullahi, J., & Dami, A. (2013). Terrain analysis of Biu plateau

for road development, Borno State, Nigeria. Journal of geography and geology, 6 (2),

29-35.

[7] Encyclopedia Britannica. Biu Plateau. Retrieved on 25th

April, 2017.

[8] Udo, R.K. (1978). Geographical regions of Nigeria. London: Heinemann Press,

[9] Udo, R.K. (1982). A comprehensive geography of West Africa. Nigeria: Heinemann.

[10] Ijere, J.A., & Daura, M.M. (2000). Borno state in NIGERIA: A people united, a future

assured. Nigeria: Gabumo Publishing.

[11] FAO/UNESCO/ISRC (1996). Dominant Soils of Nigeria. Center for world food

studies, thirteen west and central African soil correlation sub-committee meeting,

Kumasi Ghana; 11-15th

Nov; 1996

[12] Lar, U.A., and Usman, A.M. (2012). Environmental distribution of trace metals in the

Biu volcanic province, Nigeria: exposure and environmental health problems.

International journal of scientific and engineering research, 3(10). Pp 1-16.

[13] Quizlet, I. (2017). Geography quiz 7 & 8 flashcard. Retrieved from

quizlet.com/11336699/geography-quiz-7-and-8.

[14] Otu, R, O. (2014). Drainage characteristics of Galtimari gully system in Maiduguri

urban, Borno state. Nigeria: University of Maiduguri.

[15] Northern Nigeria Tourism and Trade. (2011). Tilla lake. Retrieved from

www.northernnigeriatourism.com/states/borno.html.

[16] Greenfieldgeography (2017). Hydrograph. Retrieved from

greenfieldgeography.wikispaces.com/Hydrographs

[17] Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). (2017). FAO soil group. Retrieved from

www.britannica.com/science/phaeozem

[18] Federal Survey (1970). Biu Topographical Map, Sheet 133. Nigeria: Federal Survey.

[19] Olugbode, M. (2016). Spiritual headquarters of Boko Haram Captured. Retrieved

from allafrica.com/stories/201603300289.html

http://www.northern/

http://www.britannica.com/science/phaeozem

Date post:	19-Jul-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	vandiep
View:	216 times
Download:	0 times

GEOGRAPHICAL SYNTHESIS OF BIU PLATEAU, …2)/ARInt.2017(8.2-02).pdf · GEOGRAPHICAL SYNTHESIS OF...

Documents